[1] In 1981, Gardner was an actor in the Washington, D.C. region, working at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company under Howard Shalwitz.

[4] He won a number of lead actor awards for plays such as Metamorphoses and The Rocky Horror Show.

He worked at fellow theater actor Flo Gibson's Audio Book Contractors in the DC region to produce classic literature on cassette tape.

Gardner was reviewed by journalist John Schwartz in The New York Times, who called him "a wry narrator with a mellow, regular-guy voice" who "is remarkably companionable and conveys the feeling he’s enjoying the book as much as you are, with a smile that is somehow audible.

"[6] Musician Greg Saunier said Gardner had a "simultaneously smooth and gravelly voice" with "a constantly varying pace and musical inflection".